How brace shelf with T Post legs.

[penright]

This question is going to be hard to visualize. I am including a picture to reference in my question.

A little context first. A friend gave me some shelving material. The legs are a T Post shape with adjustment holes down one side. You can see the T shape in the circular picture and adjustment holes in the long rectangular. My plan is to clean them up and paint them. The circle and long rectangle have been clean and painted, the odd shape is what they looked like when I got them. Today they are stacked behind the house in a "future" flower bed. When I started I did not know how much time it would take to clean the legs. The T shape means there are 5 flat areas to knock off the rust. As you can see in the corner of one of the pictures are boxes in the floor. When I moved in from the old house I laid them out thinking I would be making shelves and it was temporary. So now I am coming up with my plan B. I thought I would put up some unfinished shelves then move some boxes off the floor, making room for the shelf material currently stored in the flower bed. Then I can make the wife happy. Also, I can get them out of the weather, less cleaning for me.

Getting to my issue/question. Looking at the assembled picture (odd shaped), let's call the foreground front. You can see I have a left/right racking issue. I was able to install a brace on the left (2 blue arrows), so my front to back is good. Looking at flat part of the T Post, there are no holes. This makes it difficult to hang a Z brace left to right.
Keeping in mind this is temporary, I was trying not to modify (drill holes, weld, ...) off the bat. Also, it seems to me if these were shelves once and I don't see evidence of modifications, then make sense to me there is a construction something that I am missing.
Would it be more stable if I added another shelf and 2 legs to the right?
I thought about screwing a 2x4 to the leg, giving me something to screw to for the Z brace. Again, surely the shelf designers have a better way.

I put the top and bottom shelf in 180 deg. The bottom shelf has two holes, one on each side. I also thought of a short flat bar, from that hole to one of the holes in the T Post at a 45 deg. First, I would have to bend a tab on the T Post side. Also, again, I did not see evidence of them before.

One side note, a question some are probably asking.... My friend did not use them. He is a farmer, and some farmer gave them to him for hauling off some junk. They were just sitting out in a field. Beyond that I have no idea what they were used for. They look like it will make me some good shelves once I get them clean and painted. The final resting spot will be along walls, so I will have something to anchor them also.


I have never messed with this shelving before, so I may not be missing something in the assembly. There are a lot of smart people, lots of who have been there done it got the t-shirt. I thought I would ask in case I am overlooking something.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Do I see hoes in the edge of the shelves for attaching braces?

 

[penright]

Do I see hoes in the edge of the shelves for attaching braces?

You are correct about the holes. They are only on one side about 6" in from both sides. The brace would need a 90 to fit through the holes. I was thinking about it last night, I may just lay a 1x4 from corner to corner and use a C-Clamp for the temporary structure.

The permanent solution I think will be a bracket with a 90 bend to make a tab. The tab will have a couple of holes that can be bolted to the T Post. Then a hole to match the shelf. Here is a drawing (not to scale).

Edit: Picture as promised.

 

[mfs54729]

I have shelves in my shed with the same kind of T-posts. There is X bracing on the sides with perforated metal bars that screw into the T-posts. There's X bracing on the back with an L type bracket to attach the bracing to the T-posts. I think you should be able to buy or fab L brackets to attach the back bracing to the T-posts.

The shelves were installed by the previous owner so I have no idea where he got the shelves or parts to install them. Based on the condition of the shelves I think he bought them used.

Mark

 

[penright]

There's X bracing on the back with an L type bracket to attach the bracing to the T-posts.

This forum hasn't failed me yet. I knew there had to be someone out there.
They seem like they will make some good shelves.

I think I can picture it. Is the angle bent as needed into the L bracket? Seems like it would take some math or trial and error to get the right angle. Or is the L bracket angle a 90 with holes on both sides. One bolts to the T Post, the other for X brace, to pivot for the angle needed?

I have no idea where he got the shelves or parts to install them

I have googled and can not find anything either.


Would you mind posting a picture when you get time? Or PM me and I can give details on where to email it.

 

[mfs54729]

Here's a couple of pictures of the bracing. The L bracket and the brace are two different pieces. It looks like they are riveted together so the L bracket can move depending on the angle of the bracing. If I were you I would fab/buy some L brackets and drill holes in each leg. Bolt one side to the T post and the other side to the bracing.

You may want to add a second brace to make it an X brace instead of a Z brace.I don't know how stiff your bracing is. Once you get one diagonal brace up you should be able to check how stable it is and determine if you need another brace in the other direction.

 

[penright]

Here's a couple of pictures of the bracing

That is what I was picturing. My thought is to cut a piece of angle iron about 1 or so long. Then drill a hole on each side.

I put up my temporary shelves yesterday. Just used old 2x4 and 1x4 laying around. Looks really bad. Even being temporary it is bothering me. I did learn some trick on construction when I go live with them. I am toying with the idea of getting some 1" or whatever scrap iron has for the day strips and welding them. I know I said I did not want to. but as I was looking at it thinking. If someone (after I am gone) want to tear them down and move them. It would be just the back that would be two legs. And they would be as wide as a shelf. They would still lay flat and not be too wide. Either way it will be the kids problem not mine. I need to do some measuring in where they are going to sit. Unless I want a bigger gap, the back X brace would be every other section.

Another thing I learned, is bracing the legs. My first shelf was about 3.5 feet off the ground. I had to screw 2x4 between legs for stability. I am not worried about water, but I am going to put a shelf in the first holes from the ground for just that purpose. And there is a top and bottom to the legs. On one end holes start about 1 1/2" and the other is about 1/2". Even though I counted holes I still have out of plum shelves.

Thanks again for your time.

 

[kbs2244]

Before you go through the trouble of making your own, I would call the mfg. for the parts.
They get lost all the time and I would expect replacing them is a common thing.

I would expect they come with assembly instructions.

 

[penright]

Before you go through the trouble of making your own, I would call the mfg. for the parts.

They were given to me and the friend that gave them to me has no clue. They were given to him.
Same for @mfs54729, they were a gift. I have not had any luck googling.

I would expect they come with assembly instructions.

All I got was rust and mud.

 

[kbs2244]

Do you have any of the clips at all?
They often have a PN stamped into them that could be searched.

 

[penright]

Do you have any of the clips at all?

Good question. No, just shelving material.
Going back to @mfs54729 pictures, I did not see any part numbers on them.

 

[kbs2244]

This may help

http://www.shelf-clips.com/shelf-clip-identifier/

 

[penright]

This may help
http://www.shelf-clips.com/shelf-clip-identifier/

That was interesting. I did see in @mfs54729 picture look like clipe of some sort, guess it holding a shelf.
I did google all the shelving makers they listed at the bottom. I did not see any shelving that came close.

What is strange is the T Post shape. Let me reference @mfs54729 picture.

I was not going to use clips, did not get any anyway, I was going to bolt the shelf to the post. No big deal. Look at how the X Brace is connected. That is what got me to post this thread. Notice there are no holes on the back of the post. Mine did not have that stepped shape bracket with attached brace either. That definitely looks like a factory piece.

Like I said, I thinking right now, finding some strip about like the bar in the picture and just weld it. I am not going to move them.

Of the manufactures that was on the web site, no other shelf used this kind of leg. Most were like angle iron, and had holes down the side and back.